Dome

Adam Jones likes playing in Toronto. The Orioles center fielder launched a moonshot that hit off the bottom railing of the third deck of the Rogers Centre in the seventh inning of the Orioles' 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. Jones, who now has nine homers this season, has homered in each of the first three games of the series here in Toronto. Saturday's blast was his eighth homer at the Rogers Centre since the beginning of the 2012 season, most of any opposing player in that span.

No. 11 Maryland has looked overpowering in 16-3 and 14-3 routs of Mount St. Mary's and UMBC in back-to-back Saturdays, but the team's resolve will be tested in Saturday's road game against No. 2 and new Atlantic Coast Conference rival Syracuse. It will be the first time since 1983 that the Terps and Orange will meet in a regular-season contest, and it will be Maryland's first visit to Syracuse since 1960. The Terps will face an Orange program that has captured 11 national championships and will play in the fabled Carrier Dome before departing the ACC for the Big Ten conference next season.

Like cars driving through the slippery streets of Baltimore, the players on the snow-covered turf at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday had trouble gaining traction and were forced to slow down to avoid spinning out. Those weather conditions made it easier to run with the ball, as running back Ray Rice showed on a few occasions when he waited for Minnesota Vikings defenders to slide by him after catching short passes. It also benefited the offensive line because there was no way that defensive linemen could blow by them.

A two-inch-thick steel door secured by a padlock hides an exclusive gem of Maryland history. Only 10 people have keys. Nine of them work to protect the governor. Behind that door, more than 140 narrow wooden steps wind upward to a spectaular vista that has been enjoyed by former U.S. presidents, Maryland's contemporary political elite and the scores of workers who used 18th century technology to hoist massive beams nearly 200 feet in the air to build the dome of the Maryland State House.

The most imposing building on the U.S. Naval Academy's sprawling campus in Annapolis is the 85-year-old chapel, easily recognizable from its copper-covered dome towering 192 feet in the air.Shaped like a Roman cross, the building is one of the most popular tourist attractions in one of the most popular tourist cities in Maryland. Weddings and funerals are held in its sanctuaries, which boast large stained-glass windows designed in the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany.The chapel also contains the crypt of John Paul Jones, the gallant and colorful Revolutionary War officer who gave the Navy its earliest traditions of heroism and victory.

Imagine driving into Annapolis along Rowe Boulevard or sailing into the city's harbor, glancing up toward the tiered State House dome, and seeing that it's colored not in the brick red and Colonial white you've known your entire life, but in lemon gold, muted blue and honey bordering on apricot. Sound like something from a weird dream? It's not. When George Washington strode inside to resign his commission in 1783, when the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris there, ending the Revolutionary War, and when the British sailed up the Chesapeake to sack Baltimore in 1814, those were the colors they saw. So found a team of workers as they stripped away paint layers during an $800,000 maintenance project this summer.

Like cars driving through the slippery streets of Baltimore, the players on the snow-covered turf at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday had trouble gaining traction and were forced to slow down to avoid spinning out. Those weather conditions made it easier to run with the ball, as running back Ray Rice showed on a few occasions when he waited for Minnesota Vikings defenders to slide by him after catching short passes. It also benefited the offensive line because there was no way that defensive linemen could blow by them.

The fight over construction of a 62-foot-tall bubble over a popular Fells Point bar was settled last night when the city Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals cleared the way for the structure to go up this month.By a 4-1 vote, the board gave owner Damian Bohager the go-ahead to build the "Bohdome" over Bohager's Parrot Island nightclub at Eden and Aliceanna streets.The vote further divided a neighborhood split over the issue.Bohager said he was "ecstatic" about the board's action. "I got what I thought we were allowed to do," he said.

Are you from here? That freshly painted mural at The Dome at the Madison Square Recreation Center, it wants to know, and it wants to know in big block letters. Everyone wants to know, it seems. After all, it is an advertising slogan for Under Armour, the Locust Point-based apparel company that teamed up with the NBA to renovate The Dome, a facility on East Biddle Street that carries those words on its wall, on the baselines and on the shirts of about 100 kids that were seated on and around the court Monday.

A two-inch-thick steel door secured by a padlock hides an exclusive gem of Maryland history. Only 10 people have keys. Nine of them work to protect the governor. Behind that door, more than 140 narrow wooden steps wind upward to a spectaular vista that has been enjoyed by former U.S. presidents, Maryland's contemporary political elite and the scores of workers who used 18th century technology to hoist massive beams nearly 200 feet in the air to build the dome of the Maryland State House.

Adam Jones likes playing in Toronto. The Orioles center fielder launched a moonshot that hit off the bottom railing of the third deck of the Rogers Centre in the seventh inning of the Orioles' 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. Jones, who now has nine homers this season, has homered in each of the first three games of the series here in Toronto. Saturday's blast was his eighth homer at the Rogers Centre since the beginning of the 2012 season, most of any opposing player in that span.

That episode title sounds like it came from Phillip; I don't like it already. Back from the impromptu Tribal Council, the Favorites are dissecting what happened with Brandon. And as Corinne points out, he destroyed the food of the whole tribe, not only the people he had the problem with. Corinne is also upset that no one stood up for her and Phillip. Listen, lady, the best way to deal with the Crazy is to not engage it, and avoid looking it in the eye. At the Fans camp, they are decidedly more upbeat than they were last week as they read the Treemail about this week's Reward Challenge.

A power outage darkened the Superdome in the third quarter of the Super Bowl on Sunday night, an unnerving experience for a stadium that had been the refuge of last resort for many when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The 34-minute outage seemed to halt the Ravens' momentum, coming almost immediately after Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff for a touchdown to start the second half. The Ravens had led 28-6, but the previously sluggish San Francisco 49ers went on to score two touchdowns and a field goal in the third quarter.

Are you from here? That freshly painted mural at The Dome at the Madison Square Recreation Center, it wants to know, and it wants to know in big block letters. Everyone wants to know, it seems. After all, it is an advertising slogan for Under Armour, the Locust Point-based apparel company that teamed up with the NBA to renovate The Dome, a facility on East Biddle Street that carries those words on its wall, on the baselines and on the shirts of about 100 kids that were seated on and around the court Monday.

Baltimore County government this week unveiled a little hometown pride - and its sports preference - when it turned Towson's Historic Courthouse signature dome purple on Friday, Jan. 6. County officials said the gesture is meant to support the Baltimore Ravens march to this year's Super Bowl, and also make it clear that the county considers the Ravens its team because of the franchise's headquarters in the county. "We are very proud that the Ravens corporate headquarters are located in Owings Mills," said Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz in a press release about the courthouse tribute. "While we are delighted to share 'our' team with the entire region, we take special pride in knowing that the Ravens call Baltimore County home.

The mostly Slavic congregation of a little brick church in Arbutus has changed the skyline of the Baltimore County community overnight. Motorists turning south onto Linden Avenue from Westland Boulevard caught their first glimpse yesterday of a glistening gilded dome above the trees and cottage roofs. It was not there Tuesday morning.The Rev. Conan Howard Timoney, pastor since 1983 of the Patronage of the Mother of God Ruthenian Catholic Church at Linden and Highview avenues, said neighbors and parishioners have been calling the rectory steadily, leaving variations of this message on his answering machine: "I can see it!"

MINNEAPOLIS -- You've seen the banners, and this time they've got it right: There's no place like Dome.The MonstroDome wins again. The Braves had their ace pitcher and they had the Lemmer and they hit shot after shot against the Twins starter and none of it mattered.This one's going seven, and do not bet against the Twins here.Do not. Do not. Not if you care about history, or about your money.Jack Morris, the pitcher you want throwing a seventh game of a World Series, pitches for the Twins against John Smoltz.

The last of the scaffolding that enclosed the dome of the State House since summer will come down Friday — leaving Annapolis with an uncluttered view of its most famous landmark just in time for Christmas. For all practical purposes, the $800,000 restoration job is over. "It was just a good job well done and worked out great," said Bart L. Thomas, who oversaw the project for the state Department of General Services. The golden acorn at the very top of the soaring wooden dome has been regilded.

Imagine driving into Annapolis along Rowe Boulevard or sailing into the city's harbor, glancing up toward the tiered State House dome, and seeing that it's colored not in the brick red and Colonial white you've known your entire life, but in lemon gold, muted blue and honey bordering on apricot. Sound like something from a weird dream? It's not. When George Washington strode inside to resign his commission in 1783, when the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris there, ending the Revolutionary War, and when the British sailed up the Chesapeake to sack Baltimore in 1814, those were the colors they saw. So found a team of workers as they stripped away paint layers during an $800,000 maintenance project this summer.